Different colors of flag || jikook

Chapter 41

Jimin and Jin sat, tears silently slipping down their faces. Jin, holding Jimin’s hand tightly, finally opened up about the past  a part of his life he had hidden away for too long.

"There was someone," Jin began in a trembling voice, "someone I loved more than anything. My joonie."

Jimin listened quietly, sensing the heavy weight Jin carried.

"We were... happy," Jin smiled bitterly, the memory so close, yet so far. "Him and I loved each other like the world didn’t exist. Every second with him felt like a lifetime, and every lifetime felt too short."

Jimin wiped his cheeks and whispered, "What happened, hyung?"

Jin's smile faded. "Joonie’s family... especially his father, they never accepted me. He fought so hard for us, but his father kept refusing. After endless tries, one day... finally, his father agreed. It felt like a miracle. That same day, he came running to me, couldn’t wait to tell me we could finally adopt a baby together. We had already prepared all the papers, visited the child... everything was ready. We were just waiting for the final step."

Jin paused, eyes distant.

"We were on call... laughing, planning names... when..." his voice broke. "...when I heard the crash. He was in an accident. He never made it to me."

Jimin covered his mouth in shock, tears freely falling now.

"I never got the chance to meet his family," Jin continued hoarsely. "I think they hated me so much,  I lost Namjoon.. and I lost everything we had dreamed."

Jin’s voice turned soft, almost like he was speaking to himself. "After that, I left that house. I couldn’t breathe there anymore."

Jimin squeezed his hand. "But... the baby?"

Jin smiled faintly. "I went back. I adopted Minjun. I kept my promise to Namjoon"

He looked at Jimin, a fire of love in his eyes. "He’s my son now. He’s growing up strong, smart... and he’s my whole world."

Jimin sniffled. "And... your life now?"

Jin shrugged. "I run this restaurant. It's small but ours. I raise him the way joonie and I dreamt."

"But…" Jin hesitated, "I tried to move on. I even had a boyfriend for a while Jinyoung. He was good, kind, tried everything to make me fall for him. But... my heart…" Jin placed his hand on his chest. "It was never mine to give again. No matter how hard I tried, it stayed with Namjoon."
"So Jinyoung left," Jin said softly. "And honestly... it was for the best. Now it’s just me and my son. And I’m finally... happy. In a quiet, bittersweet way."

"Wait, I'll show you his picture."

Jin shows Jimin a picture of himself and Namjoon. Seeing it, Jimin is shocked his hands and legs start trembling, and he sat in silence, overwhelmed.

Then, carefully, almost afraid to ask, he said, "Hyung... your husband... Namjoon…?"

Jin nodded.

At that moment, it felt like all the air left Jimin’s lungs. His mind raced back to those countless nights on the terrace, under the stars, when he had talked to a boy he could never see but always feel. A boy who protected him from loneliness, who gave him courage when no one else did.

Namjoon.

The boy from the terrace was Jin’s Namjoon.

Tears blurred Jimin’s vision as he remembered it all  the warmth in Namjoon's voice, his deep comforting words, the gentle way he had listened to Jimin’s fears and dreams. It had never been just his imagination.

"He… he talked to me…" Jimin whispered, voice cracking. "On the terrace. All those nights... I thought... I thought he was a real, but he was a dream…?"

Jin looked at him, wide-eyed.

Jimin’s voice shook as he went on, "He told me... he’d always protect me. He said he had someone very special, someone he missed. He told me he wasn’t allowed to move on because he had a duty... to watch over me... and someone else."

Jin’s tears flowed freely now. "That sounds like him," he whispered, voice broken.

"And there was someone else too," Jimin added shakily, "someone Namjoon said he had to protect him. But he never told me who."

They both sat there, trembling, as if touching a world too fragile to survive.

Both brothers broke down completely, clinging to each other as memories crashed over them like waves memories of love, loss, and promises that death could not erase.

The restaurant grew silent except for their soft cries, two souls grieving the same boy in two different lifetimes.

Outside, the rain softened to a mist, like the world mourning with them.

The story wasn’t over. Somewhere, a mystery remained  the second person Namjoon had told Jimin about. But for now, wrapped in the memory of a boy who had loved too deeply to ever truly leave, Jimin and Jin sat together, healing, piece by piece.